The owners of Tottenham Hotspur are set to pump more money into the Premier League club and it comes at a time when they are also raising some funds of their own
Tottenham Hotspur’s owners, The Lewis Family, are set to inject more money into the club ahead of a big summer and it comes at a time when they are looking to raise £200million themselves by selling some of their vast art collection.
Spurs want to back new head coach Roberto De Zerbi in the transfer market this summer after the Italian steered them clear of relegation following a near disastrous season. That could have cost the club around £250million alone in lost revenue had they dropped down to the Championship.
Tottenham have signed Andy Robertson on a free transfer with Marcos Senesi set to do the same, while they are also in talks for Brighton’s £70million-rated defender Jan Paul van Hecke and Manchester City winger Savinho, who is valued up to £60million. That is set to be the start of a busy summer at the north London club with exits and arrivals aplenty as they seek to prevent another season of disappointment.
Within their statement to fans last month, the Lewis family said: “We take responsibility for rebuilding Spurs. Our ambition is to recapture the spirit of the club and bring back the excitement, the fearlessness and the bold football we have always felt defined us. That means football comes first. The Board and Executive team have laid out their plans to meet this ambition.
“This will require investment – in our teams, the academy, our backroom functions and more – and we are fully committed to this. We are not selling the club. We are all in. We are investing in it. You will see more of this in the coming months.
“We care deeply about Spurs. The rebuild the club needs, and you deserve, has begun. The change required is deep. It will take time and commitment, but change is happening. We know that actions will speak louder than words.”
At the same time, the world-renowned auctioneers Sotheby’s have announced a ‘Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection’ exhibition and sale which will go on view to the public from June 10–23 June, in a specially-designed exhibition in London, with work from Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Amedeo Modigliani to Gustave Caillebotte, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
One portrait from Klimt is valued as being worth up to £30million alone, while a figurine sculpted by Edgar Degas is valued as highly as £25million, along with a Bacon self-portrait worth up to £12million.
Sotheby’s say it will provide “a rare opportunity to see, together for the first time, an exceptional concentration of some of the greatest examples of figurative art created in the Modern era”.
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Sotheby’s press release goes on: “Estimated in the region of £200million, this will be the most valuable single-owner collection ever offered at auction in Europe, bringing together defining masterpieces of modern figurative painting.
“Assembled over decades by Joe Lewis and his daughter Vivienne, many of the works in the collection have been exhibited in major museums across the globe – a testament to their exceptional art historical significance – and many have not been seen on the open market for decades, if at all.”
football.london understands the sale is unconnected to the money about to put into the club by the Lewis family through ENIC and that they have been collecting and selling art like this for decades. It does however give a reminder of the financial status of the billionaire family behind Tottenham Hotspur.
It all comes at a time when Eight Sports Capital Limited have claimed that former Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has agreed to sell a large portion of his stake in ENIC to them through a legally binding sale and purchase agreement.
The move, which is yet to be officially confirmed, is said to be for 24.99% of ENIC. Levy, through a family trust, owns 29.8% of the share capital of ENIC. Any such sale would mean the newcomers owning a stake in Spurs but without any decision-making powers or a seat on the board of ENIC, or first refusal if the club is ever sold.
On Friday, when Eight Sports announced the agreement with Levy, an ENIC spokesperson claimed that both the company and Tottenham Hotspur were unaware of the sale and that “the THFC Board and executive team remain fully focused on delivering the commitments we set out to fans at the end of the season”.
